Where each one leads

Ford Thunderbird

• Against cars of the same year, the Ford Thunderbird comes out better in New York safety inspections (fails 66% less often than average) than the Pontiac Sunfire (fails 52% more often than average).

Pontiac Sunfire

• On Canada's official test the most frugal 2005 Pontiac Sunfire uses 9.3 l/100 km, the 2005 Ford Thunderbird 13.0.

Only measures that do not depend on how many cars were sold: pass and failure rates against cars of the same age, ratings, fuel use and CO₂. How we compare

At a glance

	Ford Thunderbird	Pontiac Sunfire
Model years in the US safety record	1981–2005	1985–2005
Licensed in the United Kingdom	251	—
On the road in the Netherlands	415	—
In traffic in Finland	167	—

EEA new-car registrations (CC BY 4.0) · DVLA licensed vehicles (OGL v3.0) · RDW (CC0) · Traficom (CC BY 4.0) · generations: Wikidata (CC0).

Reliability and problems

	Ford Thunderbird	Pontiac Sunfire
New York safety inspections failed	0.6%	3.1%
… against cars of the same year	−66%	+52%
US owner complaints	2,357	1,144
Most complaints about	Engine and engine cooling	Electrical system
Model year with most complaints	1993 (423)	1996 (201)
US recall campaigns	21	17
Manufacturer service bulletins	890	3,045
NHTSA defect investigations	40	14

Complaint, recall and bulletin counts grow with the number of cars sold and are not adjusted for it. UK MOT: DVSA anonymised MOT results (OGL v3.0); New York: DMV inspections; complaints, recalls, bulletins and investigations: NHTSA (public domain); odometer: RDW (CC0).

Fuel, emissions and price

	Ford Thunderbird	Pontiac Sunfire
Official combined fuel use, Canada	13.0 l/100 km (2005)	9.3 l/100 km (2005)
Average odometer in Finland	93,000 km	—

Canada: NRCan Fuel Consumption Ratings, most frugal version of the latest year (OGL Canada). Europe: EEA monitoring of new-car CO₂ and on-board fuel meters (OBFCM), CC BY 4.0. Price: RDW catalogue price (CC0). Finland: Traficom (CC BY 4.0).